FG halts retirement of non-teaching university staff aged 60.

IN a move to prevent the non-academic staff in the nation’s universities from joining the ongoing strike by the academic staff, the Federal Government has directed vice-chancellors to stop retrenching non-academic staff of universities at the age of 60 pending passage of the bill by the National Assembly and assent by the President. National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT; Non-Academic Staff Union of Education and Associated Institutions, NASU, and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, under the Joint Action Committee of the three unions, were set to begin an indefinite strike over failure by the Federal Government to implement the 2009 agreement.
The contending issues in the agreement are the 65 years retirement age, improvement in the funding level of universities, earned allowance, and career structure for technologists on CONTISS 14 and 15.
After meeting with the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyah Ahmed-Rufa’i and the Minister of Labour, Chief Emeka Wogu, SSANU President, Mr. Samson Ugwoke, said, yesterday, that the ministers showed the three unions evidence that the issues would be resolved soonest and that the government was doing everything to ensure accelerated passage of the bill on the 65-year retirement age and other related issues.
He added that the ministers told the union leaders that vice-chancellors of universities had been informed by the government not to “retire any members of the unions who clocks 60 years or have served for 35 years, pending when the issues will be finally resolved.”
Ugwoke said the ministers equally told the labour leaders to “report any vice-chancellor that disregard this order.”
He added that the ministers had assured that the earned allowance would be captured in the 2012 annual budget, while other issues were being resolved.
Ugwoke said: “As a result of discussions held and appeals made by the two ministers to allow the Federal Government a little more time to implement the 2009 agreement it entered with our three unions, we have resolved to grant a grace of 30 days (one month) beginning from December 9 within which the contending issues raised would be fully resolved and implemented.
“If they fail we shall resume our suspended strike action without notice.”